Calvin Darlington Linton

Background

Calvin Darlington Linton was born on June 11, 1914, in Kensington, Maryland, United States.

Education

Calvin Linton graduated from Montgomery County High School and George Washington University. He received a Master's degree and a Doctor's degree in English literature in 1940 from Johns Hopkins University.

Career

After brief teaching stints with Johns Hopkins University and at Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, Calvin Linton served in the Navy during World War II and was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence. He spent the balance of his academic career at George Washington University. He began in 1945 as an assistant professor of English. He became a full professor in 1948 and in 1957 was appointed dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, a position he held until his retirement in 1984. As dean, he ushered in reforms to modernize the school while maintaining his primary vocation as a teacher, specializing in 17th- and 20th-century British literature.

In the mid-1950s, he hosted a weekly radio program on WGMS called "Keys to Literature," which focused on poetry and the power of the English language. In 1962-1971, Linton was a member of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Universities, for which he chaired inspection teams. He was a member of the board of the American College in Paris. He served on the governing committee of the Folger Shakespeare Library's Institute of Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Studies and taught its seminar on the intellectual history of the Renaissance.

However, even after retirement Calvin Linton's interest in the Christian faith led him to continue to teach the course "Christianity and Literature." In related work, he served as an editor-at-large for the magazine Christianity Today, contributed articles to Christianity and Literature, was a director of the Institute of Advanced Christian Studies, and served as a president and co-organizer of the Conference on Christianity and Literature. In addition to his work as professor and dean, Linton often taught writing courses to Federal Reserve Board, the Internal Revenue Service, and other government agencies. He was the author of How to Write Reports (1954) and Effective Writing (1958). His other work includes writing Educated Gullibility (1961), editing The Bicentennial Almanac (1975), and co-editing Quick Reference Encyclopedia: The Complete Reference Handbook of Basic Knowledge for Home, School, and Office (1978).

Achievements

• Calvin Linton became an emeritus professor of English literature at George Washington University. He had several books published.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Bicentennial Almanac: 200 Years of America 1975

Membership

Active in numerous literary and educational organizations, Calvin Linton was a one-time president of the Literary Society of Washington, the Eastern Association of Deans and Advisors, and the Cosmos Club, as well as the United States chairman of the United Kingdom's Modern Humanities Research Association.

• Literary Society of Washington , United States

• Eastern Association of Deans and Advisors , United States

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  Cosmos Club , United States

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  Modern Humanities Research Association , United Kingdom

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  sailing

Connections

Calvin Linton was married to Jean Linton.

Wife:

Jean Linton